We usually think of referees as being those people in striped shirts in the middle of the field who blow whistles. Even I think of them this way — but it is far from the real picture. Soccer referees don’t wear striped shirts and they blow their whistles as rarely as possible, only enough to facilitate the playing of the game in a safe, fair, and fun manner.
But what do they do off the field? What happens before they get to the game? A lot. Soccer referees are required to memorize the rules and keep themselves updated on the latest developments in the game whenever possible. They also have to keep track of things.
Last night I attended my first meeting of the Eastern New York Soccer Referee Association. The crowd was extremely diverse, with everyone from septuagenarian Germans to referees of Caribbean, Latino, and African descent. The meeting mostly consisted of attending to the administrative duties of refereeing. We participated in a clinic in which we pretended to write up a referee Game Report based on a simulated game. It underscored the need to really learn the rules and pay attention to details. Game Reports help the league keep track of ornery players, statistics, and protect both players and the referees in the event of injury or some serious foul play. Anyway, it sounds boring but these reports now constitute an important part of the modern game. I figure it’s best to accept it and learn it as well as possible. The reports also highlight the extent to which refereeing is really a generous profession — everything is done to facilitate the playing of the game, even off the field.
But the most enjoyable part about the event was the camaraderie. Some of the referees have decades of experience and it was a joy to hear their anecdotes. This is especially interesting to me given that referees in the U.S. generally didn’t have Assistant Referees (linesmen) until recently. For a long time, being a referee meant being the only official on the field. What kind of people are attracted to such a job? Are they all loners? Or do they just enjoy the game of soccer? Having different generations represented at the meeting definitely made for a great mix of personalities and some stimulating conversation.
The one mistake is that I assumed that it would be a boisterous crowd. The meeting was held at a German biergarten, so I helped myself to a pint of heffe weizen. For a while, I was the only one sipping alcohol in a crowd of about fifty grown men — until another referee looked at my glass and one upped me with a full liter of Hoffbrahaus. Diversity indeed.
–Deji Olukotun
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